Nearly there

Julian and I went up to Ullapool this weekend, mostly to dress the mast but also to see how the repairs to Robinetta were going. Everything is on track, and we now have a probable launch date in Easter week. 

The major unexpected job has been replacing practically all the floor bolts. Tim found a few that had obviously been in place since Robinetta was built, as they did not come through the planking, but even the ones replaced just after we bought Robinetta in 2007 showed significant weakening. They are now all new.

I mentioned the port side planking in the last post, and Tim had a good look and declared it not in need of replacement. He did repair and reinforce the rib between the galley and the cockpit bulkhead, which should stop the seeping into the food locker behind the sink. I will rebuild the galley on my next visit.

 We had asked Tim to do a number of different small jobs and they are mostly complete, with pictures below.

New splines on the cabin sides

The bits refastened securely

repair and reinforcement to the forward port rib

Interior of the hanging locker, with the reinforced rib and planking in white

Replacement plank in the stern starboard locker

New attachment point for the jib sheet lead, with the grab rails now oiled rather than varnished.

 

New mast partners and staysail sheet track

For the rest Robinetta still looks very much herself.  "Not up to Solent standards" as her 1949 survey states, but our son Alex will paint and antifoul her before launch, and we have never tried to prepare her for a Councourse d'Elegance.

New planks on the Starboard side

One of the advantages of replacing the planking is access to the ribs. I had been concerned about the final rib in the cabin for a while, and it turned out to need replacing.

 

The rot in the starboard stern quarter that Julian found back in 2023  and did a "quick fix" on has now been revealed in all its horror. However with Tim on the case it did not take long for the repairs

That is probably all that needs doing on the Starboard side. Now Tim just needs to check what is going on to port...

New cabin sides

 As always when a wooden boat gets work done more problems emerge. We were expecting this with Robinetta, and when Tim started work on the cabin sides he discovered some "mushroomy wood". This could be cut out, and just the section replaced, but we have done this before, and now have a plank that is in sections from the cockpit to the inside of the hanging locker with but joints. The new rot section needs replacing to half way along the cabin side. Replacing the whole plank will give us a much better job, and should mean that we do not need to replace another part of the plank in a couple of years.

The floor bolts that Tim identified as a possible cause of the garboard leaks have been pulled, and did indeed need replacing.

Julian did a rough repair on the hole though the port bulwark where the bowsprit goes though before we launched in 2024, but this has now been replaced and strengthened.

The teak bulwark facing the foredeck has been resplined. That's another of Robinetta's cabin leaks fixed.

We still intend to head north as soon as we can, but our departure date from Ullapool is getting later. Mid April, rather than the end of March is still early, but we shall see!

 

New topsides

 Had another set of pictures from Tim Loftus. The repairs are definitely progressing. The anchor hawser pipe has moved to be a bit more central, but I am promised it is clear of the bowsprit. We will be getting a new staysail track too, but it has not yet arrived.

Ongoing work

 Julian and I have not been up to Ullapool, but Tim Loftus has started work, and sent us a couple of pictures of the deck around the mast. The deck frame and mast partners are rotten underneath the soggy plywood deck and need replacing. A days work for a shipwright, but a huge headache if we were trying to do it ourselves!

Renewing halyards

We look over the rigging at the end of every year, but this year I had a look at the list of things we jury rigged or replaced after they broke during the season, which showed me we were too careless.

2024 both topping lifts

2022 bob stay hardener

2021 throat halyard 

2016 back stay hardener

2013 main sheet, (replaced again 2022)

I decided to make a list of when the cordage was last changed, and replace anything over 10 years old. This showed me I needed to buy a new 

staysail halyard, replaced 2011

jib halyard, replaced 2011

bob-stay hardener, unknown

topsail halyard/safety line, replaced 2010

staysail sheet, from purchase

We do try to change ropes before they break, and have some that is relatively new.

2022 "spare" halyard

2021 Peak halyard 

2018 dead eye hardener.

Most of our rope was hardy hemp, but we are replacing it gradually with polyester

Hopefully making this list will remind me to only give the ropes ten years before replacement. Having said that we are still using the jib sheets from 2010. These are 12mm braid, and we carry a spare set, so I am not buying new ones just yet.

Robinetta's backstays were replaced in 2021 after we noticed they were kinking not coiling, a sign of fatigue, and one of our galvanised shrouds showed the same symptom this year. The shrouds are encased in tubing, so we will need to strip that off to double check. The forestay is the same age, having been on her since we bought her, so if we replace the shrouds we will also change the forestay.

More of that another time.

Undressing the mast

I contacted Tim Loftus about coming up to Ullapool, as we needed to take the ropes and blocks off the mast for renewing. Tim said he would not be there, as he was helping deliver Swan back to her home in Shetland with new masts that he had been working on, but he arranged for a plank to be secured for Julian to walk on, and made sure a ladder would be left so we could reach the mast where it was stowed. He also told me that he had not actually started work on Robinetta, and would not be able to until after Christmas.

While this might sound like a bad thing, in reality it just means that Robinetta will be under cover for the majority of the winter. Tim had put Robinetta in his canvas on frame workshop, (the only "boatshed" on site) and since she is small he still had room to build a dinghy that had been commissioned for Christmas.

When Julian and I headed to Ullapool on Saturday the forecast was for heavy rain and a temperature just above freezing. The rain did not start until we were approaching the yard, but while working we could hear the rain thundering down on the canvas above. It did not worry us: we were in shelter, and wearing the right clothes. There was hail mixed in with the rain, and when Julian went outside to fetch water to boil up for our lunchtime pot noodles he said it had turned into graupel. We had encountered this in March 2013 (while trying to paint Robinetta outside at West Mersea) and it had stopped work. This day it just made me very glad we were inside.

It is a five hour drive to Ullapool from home, so we had a nice dinner out and stayed overnight (in a hotel not camped out in Robinetta) before heading home on Sunday morning. I am not sure when we will be back next. Probably not until Tim tells us Robinetta is ready to come out of the shed.